Opinion:US does Little to Protect Russian Adoptees from Abuse
Occasionally, we will link to media opinions on aspects of adoption and child welfare that you may never have thought about.
“Russian children living in the US families are often left unattended by local authorities, leaving them exceedingly vulnerable to abuse, a prominent social worker from Texas told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
“If you are here, and you are Russian, and you got here because you were adopted, there is no one to call. You can call the police but what can they do. If you call protective services, that’s probably not getting to do anything,” Black said.
In January 2013, the Dima Yakovlev Law banning US adoptions went into effect in Russia. It was named after a 21-month-old Russian boy who died of heatstroke in July 2008 after his American adoptive father left him in the back seat of his car for nine hours. There were several prior cases of abuse of Russian children, as well.
Earlier this year, a Russian investigative officer said US investigators attempted to obscure a probe into the death of Maxim Kuzmin, a three-year-old Russian orphan who died in Texas following his adoption by an American family in 2012. He also said the US investigators refused to help their Russian counterparts without providing a legitimate reason.
“When the representatives of the Russian Embassy, the Russian Consulate and the attorney came to this Texas town and asked about children, they [Texas authorities] dismissed the charges against me and the rights were taken from the parents that week. They [Texas authorities] were trying to cover up all the years that they did not help the children, and they wanted me to stop making complaints about them. So, when the Russian diplomats got there, everything was corrected,” Black said.
“[US] social services and law enforcement, in my eyes, are just as guilty, as the abusive parents. They protected the abusive parents. If you know that these guys need help and you go home to your nice family, you take your kids to the ball game and you don’t care about those kids, and it’s your job to help them, shame on you. Shame on all of them,” she said.
Black added that Child Protective Services were incompetent and people sent to families’ homes for investigation did not have professional training.
“Someone needs to be held responsible. The [US] law enforcement needs to be held responsible. The [US] child protection needs to be held responsible. The abusive adoptive parents need to be held responsible. They were never arrested,” she said.
About 20 Russian children have reportedly died of abuse and many more suffered, she said.
“Over half of those are the cases known to Child Protective Services. The crimes against children are not treated like crimes,” she said.
At the same time, Russian diplomats have been helpful “beyond their jobs” and always answered requests from Black, she said.
Under Russian law, a child can be adopted by foreigners one year following the entry of his or her information into the State Database of Orphans and Children Deprived from Parental Care. Decreasing the number of children in orphanages is one of Russia’s priorities on the home stage.”
Opinion:US does Little to Protect Russian Adoptees from Abuse[RIA Novosti 6/17/14]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
I don’t Russian authorities “get” that under U.S. law once an adoption has been completed, the adoptee is considered the same as the APs natural children. Ergo, CPS can’t go out to the home unless they get a report of abuse. And if you have homeschooled kids living in an isolated area, who’s going to see abuse to report it? And if the kids report it themselves– who’re the cops going to believe– the saintly Christian APs who adopted all those poor furrin kids, or an ungrateful brat who’s whining about a little old-fashioned “discipline”? And the APs have explained to the responding officers about how this kid lies all the time…
In addition, I don’t think other governments realize that CPS is purely a county-by-county operation, with each county answerable to the state. The federal government is completely out of the loop– State’s Rights, you know.
The Stuckies don’t seem to get that this is the holdup– other countries want to deal with the federal government, not each individual state. And they want duly authorized representatives of the federal government OR their own omsbudsmen empowered to make random checks to make sure everything is okay, including talking to the kids without the APs listening in.
I don’t think the average Stuckie is willing to surrender an iota of their “right” to raise their “own” children as they see fit, much less provide the sort of access Russia and other closed countries are demanding as the price of re-opening. Nor are they willing to admit that’s what it’s going to take. They expect “lesser” countries to obey American demands, and think the only reason they aren’t is because the Obama administration is negligently failing to give these countries their marching orders.
Actually most of us Stuckies know exactly what Russia wants and that our government is not willing to negotiate on any of these points. When we all went to Washington we asked that things be changed in the way check ups on Russian children were done. Our government said the Russian government was not willing to budge. I honestly don’t even think our government even showed our proposal to them.
It would have been too much work for the American government to comply to the things we were suggesting and we were willing to give up some rights so the children could be checked on. So we really are not as stupid as you want to think we are.
But most people are really stupid to think that this had nothing to do with Russia/American politics. It is all about money and power and very little to do with children’s rights. That goes for both countries. It doesn’t mean that things shouldn’t be changed to protect the children once adopted but that is really not what Russia wanted.
I was told be many higher ups that Russian authorities told them they would not even consider lifting the ban unless America took back the Magnitsky Act. Most educated people in Russia will tell you the same thing. This is a power struggle not a human rights issue.
So we can all sit around and pretend that Putin cares about his orphans or we can look at this for what it really is. Two cats fighting in a sandbox over who’s crap doesn’t stink.
Neither one of these presidents care about the children or families involved in it.
And if you think the government in Russia really does care about their orphan children you should take the time to watch this Russian Documentary on the corruption that is involved in keeping orphans there. The documentary has nothing to do with the ban but focuses on how the industry makes so much money that they do not want children in foster care or given back to their families. They make more money for them in the orphanages. Only 9% of children taken from their families ever go back to them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pGbQ_6Ervw
The truth of the matter is that there are many orphans who were adopted that did very well in America and there are orphans who were treated horribly and even killed in America.
There are some good caring orphanages in Russia and some really bad one.
There are orphans who do ok in the orphanages and there are orphans who are treated horribly and even killed in the orphanages.
The documentary does talk about how bad it is for a child to be raised in an orphanage versus being in a foster family.
None of it changes the fact that the little girl I was trying to adopt is stuck in an orphanage and will be transferred to a mental institution when she turns 18 because no one in her country wants to adopt her.
There are many good people in Russia fighting for these children but the government is not one of them. Again, in my opinion both governments are about money and power not humanity which is very sad for all children.
Um… the Magnitsky Act IS a human rights issue. People don’t stop having human rights after they reach adulthood.
There’s no question that Putin himself and his cronies are corrupt to the core, and are using the cut off of children for adoption to put pressure on the U. S. government. Even so, there ARE Russian advocates for children who are genuinely distressed by the cases of abuse, neglect and abandonment of Russian children at their “forever families” hands.
No one claims that this is happening to all Russian adoptees, but that this is happening to ANY Russian adoptees is horrifying. PAPs are supposed to have been thoroughly vetted before being cleared to adopt, which you’d think would mean that ALL of the potentially-abusive parents would have been screened out.
The fact is, the home study process is an expensive rubber stamp which allows anyone whose check clears through as long as they don’t act obviously psycho in front of the social worker conducting it. And should their demeanor slip (or they get a CPS worker who realistically assesses their ability to parent a special needs child from another culture) there’s no need to worry! They can “home study shop” until they find an “adoption friendly” social worker who’ll approve them.
And as far as American PAPs being willing to accept greater oversight in exchange for being allowed to adopt Russian kids… the Ranch for Kids fiasco doesn’t support that thesis. Just sayin’.
You people on here like to only talk about American families who terribly mistreat their children. However, what about the many Russian families who abuse and kill their adopted children? Since it happens there, too, does that mean all Russian adoptions to Russian citizens should also be stopped?
Every rational person knows that this only happened because of the Magnitsky act and not because of the welfare of children.
Actually, we do talk about Foreign families who mistreat their children. But we have to have an article to do so.
Anonymous,
Re: “…what about the many Russian families who abuse and kill their adopted children?… Every rational person knows that this only happened because of the Magnitsky act and not because of the welfare of children…”
How will turning a blind eye to the imprisonment and murder of activists TRYING to expose corruption in Russia do anything to improve the lot of children abused by Russian PAPs?
Change within Russia has to come from Russians. Americans paying Russian child traffickers top dollar isn’t going to do a thing to change an evil system. Courageous Russian whistleblowers and activists just might, if given a chance.
The Stuckies don’t seem to get that this is the holdup– other countries want to deal with the federal government, not each individual state. And they want duly authorized representatives of the federal government OR their own omsbudsmen empowered to make random checks to make sure everything is okay, including talking to the kids without the APs listening in.
I don’t think the average Stuckie is willing to surrender an iota of their “right” to raise their “own” children as they see fit, much less provide the sort of access Russia and other closed countries are demanding as the price of re-opening. Nor are they willing to admit that’s what it’s going to take. They expect “lesser” countries to obey American demands, and think the only reason they aren’t is because the Obama administration is negligently failing to give these countries their marching orders.
Your above two statements were what I was responding to in my last comment. That as a Stuckie I do get all of this. That most of the people who were stuck in Russian adoptions get it too.
I am tired of people telling us we don’t care that kids in the US died and that we don’t want to do anything to change that fact when it is not true.
The problem is our government has no desire to do anything to change it because like you mentioned above that would mean federal oversight instead of state and that is not the way the US works. So the problem is not with the AP’s not wanting things to change. The problem is with getting the government to agree to some sort of compromise.
Also, I agree about the homestudies. I have seen people qualify that should not have. We had to pass much harder requirements to be approved as foster parents and then do another homestudy to adopt the child we were good enough according to our first homestudy to foster but they wanted to make sure we were even better to adopt. A lot of people who qualify for international adoption Homestudies would never qualify as foster parents.
Anyway, I agree that there are problems in all of it. The only thing I can do is be the best parent I can be. I can’t change what other people are doing when they parent and I surly can’t make our government do anything to improve the lives of Russian adoptees. I tried and they basically told us to all go away and adopt from a different country.
Um… the Magnitsky Act IS a human rights issue. People don’t stop having human rights after they reach adulthood.
While the Magnitsky Act is supposed to be a human rights issue it is not. It is about money and power. It is horrible that an innocent man died but that is not why our government passed the law.
One man, Bill Browder, lost a whole bunch of money in Russia and was banned from going there. He hired a lawyer, Magnitsky, to help him and that man was treated poorly in prison and died. Bill Browder came back to America and lobbied to punish Russia for what had been done. Do you really want me to believe that this was all for the sake of human rights and not money? Why would our congress give a rat’s ass about one dead Russian prisoner? They don’t care about other people who are treated horribly in Russia or another country for that matter. For years they have seen the condition of Russian orphans and the treatment in the orphanages and never passed a law about the way they are treated. So you really think they care about one Russian prisoner? And Russia could say the same thing about our prisoners and foster children, so why did the US have any right to pass this law?
I used to be naive in thinking congress really cared about other nation’s people but in reality they only care about one thing, money? If you have lots of money to lobby congress your bill will pass. If you don’t, they don’t care.
When Russia tried to retaliate by doing their own blacklist our government said they didn’t care and when Russia said they would ban American adoptions I think our government did a victory dance.
So I find it insulting when people try and say that from the Russian government’s prospective they banned American adoptions because of the way the children are treated here. Did you know that Ireland was going to pass their version of the Magnitsky Act and when Russia said they would stop their in process adoptions Ireland backed down?
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130426/russia-gives-ireland-adoption-warning-over-magnitsky-law
I agree that activist and citizens of Russia care that children have come here and died. They should care. We should all care. I do not believe that even one child should be harmed when being adopted no matter where they are adopted from but I also don’t think all Russian adoptions should have been shut down because of it. More Russian children have died in orphanages than they have in America by adopted parents. More Russian children have been returned to the orphanage after being adopted by Russian parents than they have in America. Of course, more Russians adopt Russian children so it would only make sense there would be more returns and there are more orphans in orphanages than have been adopted so it makes sense that more would die in them so really any argument about numbers is silly. It doesn’t change the fact that children die.
So basically my point again is that most AP’s that were stuck are not naive in knowing what Russia wants to reopen adoptions and that things need to change. But at the end of the day even if our government was to agree to the changes on the way things were done Russia is not going to reopen adoptions if politics between the two countries do not get better and the banned Russians are not allowed to get their money out of America.
I still hope that one day a Russian family will come forward to adopt the little girl I love. After being begged to come to Russia by activist and journalist I took my husband’s frequent flier miles and his hotel points and went. I did have to pay for my Visa though. The activist were trying to get a huge rally together again but I was told that most Russians had lost interest in the orphans and they did not think they would have a good turn out this time. So they begged me to come and do interviews in hopes of peaking public interest again and having so sort of new angle on the stuck orphans that remained.
I visited a wonderful organization that is trying to help families keep their children with Down syndrome instead of giving them up to orphanages. I feel this organization is the best way to prevent children with DS from becoming orphans in the first place. It does not help Natasha though as they only work with children that have parents. They have nothing to do with orphans or orphanages. They did say if a family was to adopt Natasha they would help them understand what was involved and help them with resources. They do not visit orphanages and they do not help staff in orphanages understand the potential that children with DS have.
We are fortunate that Natasha’s orphanage does understand her potential and that she is allowed to go to school but that is not the case for all the stuck children. I hugged a sobbing Russian orphanage caregiver while she explained to me that one of the little boys that would have been adopted was being sent to a terrible institution in a few months. She had raised this little boy from an infant and he had just turned 6. She had fought to keep him as long as she could but it was time for him to be moved to an older facility and the one he was going to could care less about him. In their mind he was just some retarded little boy that only deserved to be fed, if that. He will not be allowed to play and he will not go to school. He will most likely end up looking like the horror pictures we have seen of children after they have been transferred.
So while I was in Russia I did a few Russian interviews and I finished up a documentary that I was asked to be in. All of these things were asked of me by Russian citizens. I did not go looking for them. They came to me. They asked me to help spread awareness in their country. If nothing else to make Russian citizens mad that an American cares and won’t shut up. If it takes me being hated by Russian citizens for them to care about the orphans I am willing to do so. I will continue to help fight for these children until real change is made. I will continue to beg for a family for Natasha or hope that some miracle will take place where she will be allowed to come home to us.
I am used to Crazy Carlee following me around so I don’t respond to her anymore but I thought maybe you might want to know that not all AP’s are as stupid as you believe them to be. You may still believe that of me and you have every right to your opinion but at least you have an accurate view of where I stand and what I believe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Browder
Katrina –
Ireland not passing their version of the Magnitsky Act in order to be allowed to continue to adopt Russian kids can be described in a single word: CAPITULATION.
It’s straight up reinforcing BAD BEHAVIOR.
While there are certainly political reasons for Russia imposting the ban, that does not take away from the fact that Russia’s PISSED at how their kids get treated in this country.
Katrina Morriss –
There’s a simple way to fix the access-to-Russian-adoptees issue, which would have been to get all the States to sign onto the bilateral adoption treaty with Russia, so that it would actually be legally enforceable. Our government didn’t bother!
However, all kids adopted from Russia are dual Russian-US citizens until age 18 and thus entitled to consular access to Russian kids in the US. Consular access Russian officials are LEGITIMATELY upset about being improperly denied, eg Max Shatto + his not-yet-dead biobrother.
“When we all went to Washington we asked that things be changed in the way check ups on Russian children were done”.
You realise Russia is ENTITLED to consular access to Russian-born adoptees in the US?
That Russia was IMPROPERLY + ILLEGALLY denied access to those kids?
That Russia cannot and will not “negotiate” access they SHOULD ALREADY HAVE?!
” Our government said the Russian government was not willing to budge. I honestly don’t even think our government even showed our proposal to them”
By “your proposal”, I’m guessing you’re referring to the piddly little, non-binding, non-legally enforceable 300 Broken Promises proposal.
Our government couldn’t negotiate on that basis, even of it wanted to!
“The documentary has nothing to do with the ban but focuses on how the industry makes so much money that they do not want children in foster care or given back to their families. They make more money for them in the orphanages. Only 9% of children taken from their families ever go back to them.”
Same problems here in the US — you adopted from foster care, you’ve seen how long kids linger in the system and how ill-served they are by it.
“None of it changes the fact that the little girl I was trying to adopt is stuck in an orphanage and will be transferred to a mental institution when she turns 18 because no one in her country wants to adopt her”.
Your insistence that nothing, absolutely nothing, can be done to address Russia’s concerns regarding his their kids are treated in this country — because the screening process for PAPs is SO perfect that it cannot possibly improved, that 20-21 dead Russian adoptees is “no biggie” virtually guarantees the ban on Russian adoptions will remain in place indefinitely.
Your unending insistence on calling ex-referral Natasha your “daughter” and plastering photos of her all over your blog is, ummm, interesting.
Not unlike your expensive trip to Russia — fancy hotels, very jetset and a whole lot of money to not find her a family, or do many interviews because it was right before the Olympics. Wouldn’t your money have been better spent on, say, something that would tangibly improve the lives of the little Russian orphans you claim to care so much about?!
Loved your snotty comments about the kindhearted folks who were moved to action by the plight of Sochi’s stray dogs — as if there’s a finite amount of goodwill in the world! As if it’s wrong of others to try to make the world an ever-so-slightly better place!!
Katrina,
Look, I understand that you are outraged by the treatment of intellectually disabled children by the Russian government– and you should be. But don’t you think it’s more appropriate to focus that outrage on the government who IS responsible for their well-being? Not to mention that it’s this same government who is using them as a human shield to protect its own graft and corruption from international censure.
Based on the Wikipedia link you shared, Bill Browder is a good guy who was trying to help the Russian people through socially-conscious investing when he and Sergei Magnitsky fell afoul of Putin’s cronies. And no, I don’t think Ireland is to be admired for knuckling under to Putin’s thug government. The way you stop a bully is by standing up to him, not caving in.
Our government is (in theory) controlled by the Constitution. Having the federal government take oversight of international adoption would be an unprecedented usurpation of state authority. Boehner and company would NEVER allow that; they’re determined not to allow a democratic president credit for any positive accomplishments. Childish, irresponsible, and a flagrant dereliction of their obligation to put doing the work of government over their party’s interests? I agree. But that’s the reality Obama is faced with.
There’s another curious thing about the Constitution– there’s no mandate in it for protecting OTHER countries’ children, much less to do so by acceding to whatever conditions a foreign government demands in exchange for allowing American citizens to adopt their children. Google “illegal immigrant children in detention centers” if you don’t believe me.
I encourage you to continue to raise awareness both inside Russia and internationally about the plight of Russia’s special needs kids. Notice that the Russian kids “in pipeline” miraculously were found foster homes in the wake of all the media coverage about the adoption ban. This shows that Russia CAN take care of their own– if given sufficient political incentive to do so.
The money spent on putting through international adoptions would go a lot further if applied to programs to bring needed medical care, therapists, and education programs to children living in Russia. Stipulating that these services WILL “follow” kids if they’re adopted/taken as foster kids will make these kids far more appealing to Russian PAPs.